21 August 2009

OK – there’s really only one. FREE WATER. There’s a lot of bottled water in Iraq. And when I say “a lot,” I mean…well, a bunch. And you drink it all the time. And wherever you go, there’s a package/cooler/pallet of water and you’re allowed to take as much as you want. If it’s in a cooler, it’s polite to replace what you take.

There are no giant piles of free bottled water around this base. Which is kinda cruel, as the entire section of the base devoted to demobilization is populated by wilted-looking soldiers in grungy uniforms grumbling about paying $1.25 for a water from a machine.